The present invention relates to the field of automated data storage libraries having robotic mechanisms.
Automated data storage libraries incorporate one or more robotic mechanisms for moving data cartridges around within the library. From time to time, these robotic mechanisms require maintenance actions. Maintenance is usually performed through a service door in the library""s housing that allows personnel to access robotic mechanisms inside the library. All of the robotic mechanisms within the library are usually shut down any time the service door is open. This shut down is done for the safety of the personnel performing the maintenance on the robots.
The approach of shutting down the robotic mechanisms during maintenance is costly to the automated data storage library owner in terms of down time of the library and security for the data within. The library can perform no useful work while the service door is open and all of the robots are shut down. Even if maintenance is required on only one robotic mechanism, the other robots must be stopped in order to avoid possible collisions with the personnel. This means that no new data cartridges can be mounted into the read/write drives, and data cartridges currently in the read/write drives cannot be dismounted during maintenance operations.
The open service door also raises a question of security for the data cartridges within the library. Once personnel have access to the interior of the library, it is easy for them to add, remove, or rearrange the data cartridges resting in the library""s storage cells. An audit of all data cartridges within the library is usually performed once the service door has been closed to verify that no manual manipulation of the data cartridges had taken place. For small libraries containing only a few data cartridges, an audit can be completed in several minutes. Very large data storage libraries containing thousands of data cartridges may require more than one hour to complete an audit. At a minimum, productive time of the library is lost during the audit. In a worse case scenario, data within the library has been either corrupted or lost.
What is desired is an approach that allows access to the robotic mechanisms from the exterior of the library while simultaneously blocking access to the data cartridges stored within. In large library systems containing multiple robots, it is desirable that the robots not being serviced are allowed to continue their normal operations. Preferably, the approach also blocks personnel access to these active robots while the one robot is being serviced.
The present invention is a data storage library and method of operation in which access to at least part of at least one robotic mechanism is permitted from an exterior region around the library while access to the multiple storage cells on the interior of the library is blocked. A service port provides access through the housing of the library to the robot mechanism being serviced. Access to the storage cells is blocked by either the geometry of the service port itself, or a combination of a door covering the service port and the robot mechanism being serviced.
In data storage libraries having robots operating along tracks, a portion of the track may be routed through the service port. This portion of track allows the entire robotic mechanism to be brought to the library""s exterior for maintenance purposes. In one embodiment, a mechanical stop is provided at the end of the track to keep the robotic mechanism from leaving the track. In an alternative embodiment, one end of the track is kept open to allow the robots to be removed from and installed back on the track as required.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a data storage library and method for permitting access to at least part of at least one robotic mechanism from the exterior of the library through a service port, while blocking access to the plurality of storage cells from the exterior through the service port.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a data storage library and method for accessing one robotic mechanism of a multiple robotic mechanism system while leaving the remaining robotic mechanisms inaccessible.
These and other objects, features and advantages will be readily apparent upon consideration of the following detailed description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.